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John Barlow
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Hope Road (John Ray / LS9 crime thrillers Book 1) Kindle Edition

by John Barlow (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.0 out of 5 stars 1,420 ratings

A gripping read... A fascinating study in dark and evil... The stuff of Great British grit and dark, dark humour … Barlow provides plenty of twists and turns before the truth is revealed. But what is most enjoyable about Barlow's writing isn't his story archs or plotting, but his characters, dialogue and sense of place... Beautifully cinematic… far more cinematic than a McDermid or a Rankin.
Crimefictionlover.com

Barlow throws in plenty of twists before everything is untangled, since of course nothing in the case is exactly what it seems to be, and he spins the yarn in fast-paced, very readable prose. He also does a good job with the setting, the English city of Leeds, and made me feel like I'd been there. HOPE ROAD is a fine novel, the first in a series, and I look forward to reading the others.
Rough Edges

HOPE ROAD: a crime thriller - You can't change your past. But what about your future?

John Ray, son of crime boss Antonio 'Tony' Ray, is the straight one of the family. With a successful business and a lifestyle to match, he wants nothing to do with his father's criminal world. But what does that world want with him?

A young prostitute is found dead in John's car, and Freddy Metcalfe, his best friend and employee, is framed for her death. Freddy denies everything but it's an open and shut case: he's going down for murder. John sets out to find the real killer.

But things get complicated. A stash of counterfeit money was also found in John's car, and the police seem more interested in that than in the dead girl. Then Lanny Bride turns up; one of the north's most ruthless criminals (and an old friend of the Ray family), Lanny is desperate to know who killed the girl. But why? Meanwhile, Freddy is too scared to talk to anyone, even his lawyer.

John's police detective girlfriend, Denise Danson, has been warned off the case by her boss. But she doesn't believe Freddy is guilty, and secretly helps John look for the murderer. The problem, though, is that uncovering the shocking truth about the girl's death will force John to confront his own criminal past and risk destroying his future, as well as losing the only woman he's ever loved.

A novel set in Leeds, this is the first crime-mystery in the LS9 series.

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  1. Book 1 of 3
    John Ray / LS9 crime thrillers
  2. Print length
    353 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Accessibility
    Learn more
  5. Publication date
    January 2, 2014
  6. File size
    1.9 MB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Crime thriller fans, this novel is a must read.
Jersey Girl Book Reviews

I can't wait for the next book. Hope Road is a fast-paced, exciting novel.
Preferred Reading

A gripping read... A fascinating study in dark and evil... The stuff of Great British grit and dark, dark humour... Beautifully cinematic... far more cinematic than a McDermid or a Rankin.
Crimefictionlover.com

Barlow throws in plenty of twists... he spins the yarn in fast-paced, very readable prose. HOPE ROAD is a fine novel, the first in a series, and I look forward to reading the others.
Rough Edges

This book was fantastic!! A wonderful who-done-it!! I am looking forward to the next book in this series.
2ReadOrNot2Read

I loved the story. Little twists and turns and an ending I did not expect.
Booketta

A wonderful read which I highly recommend. [...] An engrossing story with fascinating and complex characters. The setting is wonderfully portrayed. A tremendously exciting debut and I look forward to more.
The Guy with the Glasses

Very highly recommended. Exactly the kind of book I love. And I did love it.
Meeka's Mind

John [Ray] is a great character.
Beth Kemp

I enjoyed it tremendously.
Not the Baseball Pitcher

I don't know when I've read anything quite so visual. Hope Road would make a great [TV] program.
Letters from Hill Farm

A pretty gripping story. The description of the city was great too.
Click's Clan

An intriguing murder mystery from start to finish.
Welcome to Tweedling

You'll be curious to find out where Barlow plans to take John Ray in upcoming installments.
Nights and Weekends

This is an intriguing beginning for author John Barlow [...] A strong start.
His Futile Preoccupations

Looking forward to reading the next in the series.

Today I Did This For Me

From the Author

I've been thinking about this book for years. Counterfeit banknotes figure prominently in the secondary plot of HOPE ROAD. I've always been fascinated by fake money. How do you spend it safely? Is it really such a bad thing to print your own money (governments do it all the time!). Finally, is there a way of 'passing on' large quantities of fake banknotes without causing financial harm to anyone? In other words, is there a perfect crime with counterfeit money? I think I've come pretty close...

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B006LWJ75K
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Storm Books
  • Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ January 2, 2014
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1.9 MB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 353 pages
  • Page Flip ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Book 1 of 3 ‏ : ‎ John Ray / LS9 crime thrillers
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.0 out of 5 stars 1,420 ratings

About the author

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John Barlow

John Barlow

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John Barlow's fiction and non-fiction has been published by HarperCollins/William Morrow, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 4th Estate and various others in the UK, US, Australia, Russia, Italy, Germany, Spain and Poland.

His new crime series features English-Sicilian detective JOE ROMANO, and is set in the north of England. The first novel in the series is RIGHT TO KILL (2021) and the second is TO THE GRAVE (2022), both published by HQ/HarperCollins.

John was born in the village of Gomersal, West Yorkshire, England, in 1967. After leaving school he worked as a cabaret musician for several years, then read English Literature at Cambridge University, followed by a PhD in Language Acquisition at Hull University. He worked as a university teacher until 2004, then moved to Spain to write full-time. He currently lives in the Galician city of A Coruna.

Apart from writing fiction, he has works as a ghost writer, journalist and translator. He has written for the Washington Post, Slate.com, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Penthouse, Departures Magazine and The Big Issue, and was a feature writer for the award-winning food magazine Spain Gourmetour.

John's first published work, the novella ‘Eating Mammals’, won the Paris Review's Discovery (Plimpton) Prize in 2002. He went on to publish a collection of novellas, EATING MAMMALS, the historical novel INTOXICATED, and EVERYTHING BUT THE SQUEAL, a food-travelogue about northern Spain. He then published the off-beat noir novel WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO JERRY PICCO? and three books in the JOHN RAY/LS9 crime series.

He also worked with the conceptual artists Goldin+Senneby on the HEADLESS project, which took him to Nassau, Bergamo, Oslo, Paris and London, and into the company of Bahamian off-shore bankers, defamation layers, artists, and Martina Navratilova. His writing for the project has been published variously in English, Italian, Spanish, Swedish and Portuguese, and has featured in numerous art shows and galleries around the world. The novel HEADLESS, based on the project, was released in 2016 (Triple Canopy/Sternberg), and features John Barlow as the main character.

Customer reviews

4 out of 5 stars
1,420 global ratings

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Customers say

Customers find the book well-written and intriguing, particularly appreciating the twists and turns in the plot and the fascinating character of John Ray. The pacing receives mixed reactions - while some find it fast-moving, others say it's slow at the beginning.

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181 customers mention "Readability"154 positive27 negative

Customers find the book highly readable, describing it as a well-written mystery that keeps them engaged from beginning to end.

"...Highly Recommended. prisrob 02-15-12 Everything but the Squeal: Eating the Whole Hog in Northern Spain [..." Read more

"...That makes for seamless understanding of the action, which is plentiful. The subplots are woven in adeptly, creating a finely meshed web...." Read more

"...me a while to get into this book, but once in, I liked it and read it straight through, in one long read...." Read more

"...While at times, the pace of the novel was slow, overall, I enjoyed the novel and look forward to the next book in the series." Read more

124 customers mention "Plot twists"101 positive23 negative

Customers enjoy the plot twists in the book, describing it as a suspenseful murder mystery with an unexpected ending.

"...The story is about the man, the people he meets, the relationships he makes, the murder and the counterfeit money...." Read more

"John Barlow hits on all cylinders in his newest thriller, Hope Road. Mystery, espionage, love, loyalty, betrayal, and a host of other themes wend..." Read more

"...Barlow has methodically detailed how a criminal network functions and has outlined the type of mentality that is necessary for a criminal network to..." Read more

"...Other than that is was a great crime book. Tony Ray is a son of a huge crime boss. He on the other hand was on the straight and narrow...." Read more

52 customers mention "Character development"41 positive11 negative

Customers enjoy the characters in the book, particularly finding John Ray fascinating, with one customer noting the deft development of the central figure.

"...But what really sets it apart is Barlow's deft development of the central figure...." Read more

"...have pointed out, the main character, John Ray, is a complicated, appealing man, but it takes the whole story to find out who and what he really is...." Read more

"...Barlow has developed a novel that is rich with a diversity of complex characters and plot twists...." Read more

"Story line was average at best. Character development was pretty good and leaves some hope for future sequels...." Read more

27 customers mention "Pacing"18 positive9 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the pacing of the book, with some appreciating its fast-moving plot while others find it slow at the beginning.

"...and a host of other themes wend their way through this book in a fast-paced, complex story...." Read more

"...While at times, the pace of the novel was slow, overall, I enjoyed the novel and look forward to the next book in the series." Read more

"...I thoroughly enjoyed this read, it moves quickly with a satisfactory ending...." Read more

"...n't a page turner for me, it had a very good story line and was pretty fast-paced...." Read more

11 customers mention "Reading pace"4 positive7 negative

Customers have mixed opinions about the reading pace of the book, with some finding it engaging enough to keep them reading, while others say it didn't hold their attention.

"...The story was a good one but my concentration was off because of the errors. Hope the updated updated edition is really edited!" Read more

"...this book, but once in, I liked it and read it straight through, in one long read...." Read more

"...While the story held my interest for a while, I was bored by the end and didn't much care what became of the characters...." Read more

"Not too bad but failed to really keep my attention. It took me an unusually long time to finish this. I just didn't really care about the characters...." Read more

Top reviews from the United States

  • prisrob
    4.0 out of 5 stars Used Car Dealer of The Year
    Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2012
    Verified Purchase
    We have all heard the jokes about 'used car dealers', and in this new e-novel we meet one, John Ray. John has a fascinating history, he comes from a family of crooks. His dad was a big crime boss in the city of Leeds, and the entire family seemed to be wrapped up on the wrong side. John, it seems, did not want the life of crime, and had gone away and returned only when his brother was murdered and his father needed assistance. He put his father in a nursing home, and took over the used car dealership. It seems all was going well, John was making enough money to survive, he had a girlftriend he met when his brother died. The girlfriend, Denise Danson was a 'copper' as the police are known in Leeds. Everything looked rosy, until..

    After a big night for John, he was given a party and celebrated as the Used Care Dealer of the Year'. He and Den celebrated and, then in the morning Den was called out on a call. A young woman was found dead in the trunk of a car. In the tire well, $40,000 in counterfeit money. From that day forward, nothing was right for John. The car was his, and one of his employees was implicated in the murder. John is not well liked by the police. He came from a crime family and once a criminal always a criminal. John spends much of his time following up on leads and trying to prove his employee innocent, and at the same time, to clear his name.

    This is a story of old, a man trying to clear his name, but there is nothing old about this book. It takes place in present day Leeds, and from the writing we can picture the dark, and often dank streets of the city where crime occurs, and the streets that John inhabits. The writing is intense and specific. The story told from John's perspective as he meets the police team and follows the leads where ever they make take him. The story is about the man, the people he meets, the relationships he makes, the murder and the counterfeit money. As John Barlow has said in a recent interview,

    "Just as some people try to evolve the `perfect murder' in their minds, for years I racked my brains to devise the perfect `passing off' operation. It would have to be ONE person acting alone, and it would have to be almost risk-free. I think I managed it."

    John Barlow has written about his alter-ego, I think, the man he would like to be. He plans a series of nine novels- some to follow John Barlow, and maybe Denise Danson will have a chance to fulfill her desire to be the best woman detective. The writing is superb and pulls you in immediately. The charcters are sharp, and we get to feel their vision, and what they are made of and how they are incorporated into this novel. This is a terrific first novel, and I want to know how John Ray recovers, does he stay in Leeds, does he develop new relationships, does he follow the straight and narrow path?

    Highly Recommended. prisrob 02-15-12

    Everything but the Squeal: Eating the Whole Hog in Northern Spain

    Intoxicated: A Novel
    21 people found this helpful
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  • B. Burke
    5.0 out of 5 stars Great intro to a new series
    Reviewed in the United States on February 7, 2012
    Verified Purchase
    John Barlow hits on all cylinders in his newest thriller, Hope Road. Mystery, espionage, love, loyalty, betrayal, and a host of other themes wend their way through this book in a fast-paced, complex story. But what really sets it apart is Barlow's deft development of the central figure. This psychological study intertwined with the crime story plot makes for a different kind of novel.

    The plot revolves around John Ray, the "prodigal son" of crime boss Tony Ray, who has returned home to run his dad's used car business. He stepped in when his brother was murdered, in a case that was never solved, but the motive of which was attributed to the same kind of seamy lifestyle of his father. Everybody thinks that John Ray has always been different--the golden boy, smart enough to get away, to shun a life of crime. John Ray himself shows the reader how different he really is.

    But the past is hard to escape, and family ties leave a shadow of doubt. Freddy, one of John's employees, is arrested for murdering a prostitute, whose body is found in the trunk of one of John's cars along with a bundle of counterfeit money. The police see it as an open-and-shut case, so it's up to John Ray not only to prove that Freddy is innocent, but also to verify to one and all that his own business is legitimate, that he's not continuing in his father's footsteps. Barlow seems to get inside John Ray's head so well that the reader connects and understands what makes him tick. Part of that is Denise Danson, the police detective he's been dating and is in love with. But will his actions in trying to clear Freddy cause Detective Danson to sever all ties?

    Set in Leeds, the dialogue and the atmosphere are not so British as to distract an American reader. That makes for seamless understanding of the action, which is plentiful. The subplots are woven in adeptly, creating a finely meshed web. There are plenty of surprises in the final chapters, making this well-wrought story that much more interesting.

    As this is the first of a nine-book series, I am looking forward to subsequent installments. No indication whether we'll see John Ray and cohorts again, or whether Barlow's got other avenues to explore in the series, but it's a sure bet the series will be worth reading.
    38 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

  • Donald Farley
    3.0 out of 5 stars Good crime mystery
    Reviewed in Canada on January 11, 2017
    Verified Purchase
    John Ray is a mid-forties educated offspring of a crime family with original roots in Spain now established in England with a used car showroom inherited from his father. The business appears to be doing alright with two younger employees, one male and one female. Severe problems occur when the male employee is implicated in the murder of a young girl involved with foreign counterfeiters. Her body is found in one of John's showroom cars. The police immediately suspect John because of his family's known criminal activity. John is currently having a relationship with a female detective on the local force which further complicates matters.

    The story moves in a cyclical way to a surprising and unusual ending.

    T
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  • Emma
    1.0 out of 5 stars Not worth downloading.
    Reviewed in Germany on December 4, 2012
    Verified Purchase
    I cannot recommend this book. The writing style was in present tense and quickly became very tiring. "He walks into the room. He sees her coat. He wonders if she will stay long." The entire book was written like that. Sigh. The plot was not interesting either. Not worth downloading.
    Report
  • Jim Hawkins
    5.0 out of 5 stars Aye up, it's crime but not as we know it.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 10, 2015
    Verified Purchase
    John Barlow is an excellent writer with a penchant for the bizarre. He's explored a man who ate chairs, the Rhubarb Triangle in Yorkshire, and the experience of travelling around Spain - where he lives - attempting to eat every part of the pig.

    So I was interested to see what his take on a crime novel would be. As you might expect, this is no ordinary PC Plod story - he comes at it from a variety of angles, with a hero or anti-hero (take your pick) whose profile and history are far from conventional. All your early expectations will be turned upside down as it progresses. He even manages to get Spanish pig into it - which - if you think about it - is a police-like reference!

    If you want a run-of-the-mill gumshoe whodunnit, don't bother. But if you want to read something devious and different I highly recommend Hope Road. I'm about to start the sequel with great anticipation.
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  • Amazon Customer
    4.0 out of 5 stars Great crime thriller!
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 11, 2012
    Verified Purchase
    Well-written and well-paced, Hope Road is an entertaining Crime Thriller set in Leeds in the UK. The characters are believable, and the plot twists well - at times predictably, but at other times leaving enough that you won't see it coming! The attention paid to police procedure further lends credibility to the narrative, without being too intrusive. A well-rounded read that I would recommend!
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  • Kindle Customer
    4.0 out of 5 stars Hope Road review
    Reviewed in Canada on March 14, 2013
    Verified Purchase
    This was a great book . I enjoyed it from the beginning to the end. A few editoring errors but not as many as some books. All in all a very good read.
    Report

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